Western stays in hunt with big win

PLYMOUTH — The Western Reserve football team kept its home playoff game and Firelands Conference title hopes alive by winning a unique game Friday. Playing at Plymouth in a game that had a continuous running clock from the start, the Roughriders scored six touchdowns in a 40-0 win over the Big Red at Alumni Field. Plymouth entered the game with just 13 healthy players, leading to the clock situation. Kickoffs were also intentionally kicked out of bounds to avoid further injury risk. With the win, the Roughriders improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the FC. Western needs a win over New London (3-6, 1-5) and a Monroeville (7-2, 6-0) loss at St. Paul (5-4, 4-2) to finish as co-FC champions with the Eagles. Further, Carey (5-4) lost at home to Mohawk (8-1), by a point in overtime. That loss opens the door for Western to potentially be at Bachelder Field in the first round of the Region 22 playoffs in Division VI on Oct. 31. In the win over Plymouth, Landyn Wiegel opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run at the 3:43 mark of the first quarter. Hayden Dobias kicked the first of two PATs for the 7-0 lead. Wiegel then scored on a 4-yard run at the 10:50 mark of the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0. Finally, with one minute left in the half, QB Hayden Keith scored on a 12-yard run to push the lead to 20 at the break. Cooper Roe then led off the third quarter with a 33-yard run at the 9:43 mark for a 26-0 lead. About five minutes later, Peyton Kerby scored on a 6-yard run at the 4:40 mark of the third. Kerby then closed out the scoring with 5:45 left on a 2-yard run, and Gavin Trzil added the 2-point conversion run. Western ran 16 times for 218 yards, with Kerby running for 62 yards on four attempts, followed by wiggle with 47 yards on five attempts. Roe added 41 yards on three rushes. Hayden Keith completed 4-of-5 pass attempts for 96 yards. For Plymouth (1-8, 1-5), Cullen Mason ran 17 times for 51 yards. The Big Red host South Central (2-7, 2-4) in their regular season finale. S. Central 32, N. London 0 NEW LONDON — The Trojans got back in the win column in a big way with Friday's shutout FC win at Wildcat Stadium. South Central improved o 2-7 overall and 2-4 in the FC with the win, while the Wildcats fell to 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the conference. Gibsonburg 69, Willard 7 GIBSONBURG — The Golden Bears (7-2, 5-1) scored five touchdowns in the first quarter and never looked back in Friday's SBC River Division win over the Crimson Flashes. Willard fell to 2-7 overall and 0-6 in the league with the loss. The Flashes close the season at Tiffin Calvert (3-6, 2-4) next week.